Luke 12:35-36 – If Jesus showed up today, would he find that you were expecting him? Would he find you looking for his return, or just getting by in life?Are you watchful, awake and ready? It’s a loaded question that might bring up all sorts of activities that we ought to be doing if we were really ready for Jesus, but it’s one we must ask. The question isn’t are you doing the right things, but rather are you living as though Jesus could show up at your door any day.
Luke 12:41 – I love how Jesus doesn’t even answer the simple questions directly. Rather, he answers with his own questions to force them to think it through themselves and find the answer. He longs for men who are able to discern the will of God themselves rather than men who must be told everything directly. I think leaders in our churches would do well to act more like Jesus in this regard. Don’t tell folks what to think and how to act, rather, lead them to think things through, to discern God’s will fro themselves. Parents should do this with the children as well.
Luke 12:49-53 – It’s a shame how we useed this passage to justify our mistreatment of those who didn’t agree with us. Jesus’ teachings do divide households and families. Shame on us when we create division where Jesus’ teachings require none.

Luke 12:4- – What are the implications of this teaching? Jesus is saying that pretty much anything that might happen to us on earth is trivial compared to what comes next. There’s nothing to fear – no violence, disease, poverty, oppression – nothing. It all pales to what God can do to us if we refuse to follow him. The main call is for unbelievers to come to faith, but the implications to believers is huge. We can live boldly because we have nothing to fear. Nothing.
Far from a ‘fire and brimstone’ statement, Jesus is saying do want to be free from fear in this life? Then pay attention to what comes next and who is in control of it. What happens now is nothing compared to that.
I’m not sure I’m doing this justice, and frankly, it’s something that even the devout fail to get. I fail to live like I get it. Paul, in passage after passage kept reminding the early believers of how what they have been given made everything else trivial. How Jesus made all our problems seem to disappear by solving our greatest one. What do we care if life’s not going as planned, God in Jesus has secured our fate! The ultimate risk has been averted. Do we really get it? Hardly.
Luke 12:8-9 – I think this is only about sharing our faith, the cold calling stop-someone-in-the-mall sort, in the most tangential way. Rather, it’s about our acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord and that is far, far more than inviting folks to church.
Luke 12:13 – Here’s proof that we don’t get it. After saying how nothing compares to knowing God, this man asks Jesus to help him make sure he gets what is his here and now.
Luke 12:22-34 – There’s more in here than pithy wisdom on worry. There’s a theme to this entire first half of chapter 12 and that’s Jesus attempting to put life in perspective. When we pull this ‘don’t worry’ passage out in isolation, yes it can help us and teach us. But seen in context with not fearing men but fearing God and the rich fool, coveting his wealth, we see Jesus imploring us to look to heaven and to not be focused on the here and now. God knows what we need today, God can take care of us. Even if it seems that He isn’t, that which we seem to lack here is incomparable to what He has set aside for us in the future.
We ought to take comfort in Jesus’ words in verses 32-34 (ESV):

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

It is his good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Us. You and I. Bumbling, shortsighted, self focused,, prideful, clueless, blind us. Yes, He is pleased to give us the kingdom. What a God we serve.
In light of that, what’s to worry about?

Luke 11:5-13 – The point here seems to be not to be afraid to ask God for things in prayer. He even uses an example of a completely unreasonable request – knocking on the door at midnight to ask for bread. Who in their right mind would, first of all, arrive at a friend’s home from a journey, presumably unannounced, at midnight? (If he was expected, then why wasn’t the man prepared for him? Then again, in Jesus’ day you couldn’t just call ahead …) Even if am unexpected guest arrives at midnight and you’ve nothing to offer, wouldn’t you wait until the morning to go begging?
So Jesus is saying, don’t be afraid to ask God, even ridiculous requests. Ask Him! If you do, you will receive. What a God, who is even prepared to hear our requests for bread at midnight.
Luke 11:20 – He calls them on their challenge to his authority. Do they really believe that he is from the devil, casing out demons or do they simply want to avoid the more obvious truth that the kingdom of God is here? If the latter is true, that would mean that they would have to change or be excluded from the kingdom. if it’s the former, they can go on as they are, and not deal with what Jesus taught.
A lack of belief is frequently not a result of studying the facts and the evidence, rather it’s the desire to avoid facing an uncomfortable truth.
Luke 11:44 – It’s so easy to, like the Pharisees, turn following Jesus into a set of rules and practices. Go to church, tithe, don’t swear, etc. In fact, the crowds clamor for a simple religion that doesn’t require them to think. Just give us the rules and we’ll follow them.
When the leaders give in to this, and it’s so, so common, the people follow, thinking they are following God. Just like walking over an unmarked grave, you think it’s part of the path and don’t know what lies beneath, people who follow these kind of men don’t know how far they are missing the heart of God.
It’s easy to sit and long for someone to tell you what to do an how to live. It even feels spiritual – we’re following the direction of one more mature. But God says to dig deep and deal with our hearts, not our actions, and leaders, lead people to do just that.

Luke 10:1 – He sent them out ahead, when he was about to go. A bit like John the baptist, preparing the way for him.
Luke 10:2 – Jesus looked out at the crowds of people – selfish people looking to be fed and healed, religious people certain the knew what was right, self absorbed people who didn’t even pay attention of the prophet in their midst – and he saw hope. He saw a plentiful harvest. When I look out, do I see many opportunities for God?
Luke 10:9 – Heal, proclaim the kingdom. What an exiting, and scary, time that must have been. I can remember going out like these men were, doing something out of my comfort zone. It scared the bejeebus out of me, but it was exhilarating too.
Luke 10:17-20 – I like how Jesus puts it in perspective for them. It’s cool, you have power over demons. He even tells how it was cool to see Satan fall. But none of that, as cool as it is, can compare to the joy of having your names written in heaven.
Luke 10:21-24 – I can sense the thrill in Jesus at these things. He’s just excited to see these simple men take hold of the kingdom. The plan is working, it’s coming together!
It’s the same thrill of a father watching their kids get stuff. In the car the other day, we were listing to the song Slow Fade from Casting Crowns. It’s about being careful what we see and hear, we just might be slowly fading “People never crumble in a day, it’s a slow fade.”
In the back seat, Audrey asks what the song is about, so I explain it just like that. She responds something like, “So it’s kind of like that parable of the soils? One soil had the weeds that choked the plants.” She then related it to Adam and Eve in the garden, listening to the serpent. We had a great discussion, the three girls and I, about being careful because one little thing after another and we can find ourselves a long way away.
I felt something a bit like what Jesus did here – “They’re getting it! Thank you father in heaven!”
Luke 10:35 – I’ve always been amazed at the man’s giving a large sum of money and committing to an unlimited additional sum to care for this stranger. Sure, it’s a fictional story, and his main point isn’t how we use our resources (a point he makes in other places) but Jesus could have said anything and made his point. But instead, he sets a high bar as an example of taking care of our neighbors.
This Samaritan had resources that he could allocate to such a need. Maybe not set aside for that purpose, but he was willing to use it nonetheless. I wonder how many disciples of Jesus in the US have the means to do the same? Instead, we use our own vast resources (we are all wealthy in the US) mostly for ourselves. We do give, but are we ready to meed needs like this? What if there were a crisis in your church? Would you be in need or ready to supply one? Unrestricted funds? Whatever is needed?
Jesus sets taking care of our neighbors here as a task worthy of large, and unrestricted sacrifice. Sitting amongst our toys, are we still prepared to respond to these kind of needs? I suspect, mostly, we are not. I’m not as ready as I’d like to be. It challenges my heart to consider it as Jesus presented it.
Luke 10:41-42 – Jesus again puts things in perspective. What seems urgent at the time frequently isn’t that important overall.

Luke 9:30-31 – I wonder if He had these kind of meetings with dead prophets when He was praying alone? 😀
Luke 9:36 – I wonder why they didn’t tell anyone at the time? Did Jesus tell them not to? I would think they would have wanted to share it, at least with the rest of the twelve.
Luke 9:37-38 – Jesus left the remaining disciples with the crowd and was gone overnight. How did he get away without the crowd following? Perhaps the crowd gathered in the morning around the disciples, waiting for Jesus’ return. I picture this man, after begging the disciples to do something and getting nowhere, seeing Jesus approach, so he runs to meet Him.
Luke 9:41 – Seeing this in the context of Jesus just returning from his consultation with Moses and Elijah on his departure, this comment make more sense. In addition to his longing for the people to have ore faith, he’s ready to go home.
I can imagine that God looks down at us and longs for us to lift our eyes from the ordinary day to day and see him in his glory and simply have faith beyond what we see. But we all too often cannot see beyond the here and now and our own capabilities. It’s hard to conceive a God who is far, far bigger that we and far, far more capable. We tend to see him, and our ability to act with him, as like us.
I want to see as God sees, to imagine the possibilities he does. I imagine it would be amazing and frightening.
Luke 9:44 – I’m enjoying reading the ESV instead of the familiar NIV. The different wording is a bit like reading it anew, things jump out that were hidden before. Here Jesus says (emphasis mine): “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” Cool.
Luke 9:49-50 – I think John would have fit into American Christianity just fine. Some guy wasn’t following Jesus like they were, so he must be stopped. Jesus says no, and he lets this guy continue to use his name even though he wasn’t with Jesus.
Luke 9:54-55 – I wonder if John thought he had this one figured out. These folks were against Jesus, they refused to welcome him. We can nuke these guys, right? Nope.

Luke 9:1-2 – We tend to look at this through our 20th century lens. What did it mean to them – and to their audience – to “proclaim the kingdom of God”? Certainly, a certain amount of thought of the return of a physical kingdom, a new nation of Israel. But what else?
Luke 9:10-12 – Once again, Jesus tries to get away with his guys and the crowds follow. I’m sure the 12 were relieved to have some down time with Jesus, to review what they learned and just chill. Jesus does not refuse the crowds, however, and they are once again serving the masses. The end of the day approaches, and they see an opportunity for relief. Send them away Jesus, that way they can get some food. We’re thinking of them. Jesus, however, isn’t content with simply giving them the opportunity to fend for themselves, he calls the 12 higher and tells them to care for their needs themselves. Now Jesus didn’t do this every time, I don’t think. I have to believe that there were times that people were left to meet their own needs. He’s challenging them, however, to look with faith when there’s a need that seems bigger than our ability to meet it. God want to meet needs and he wants to use us to do so.
We pray that needs will be met, I wonder how many times God’s answer is “OK, I’m ready to do it, how about you? Will you go help me?” Isn’t that what happened here? God was prepared, the 12 were not. But once they went, God showed up and made up the difference. To often, we want God to go and meet the need, He says You go, and I’ll meet the need.
Luke 9:12-22 – It always seemed a little odd, this constant command of Jesus that they not tell anyone who he was. Maybe there’s some insight as to why in here. He says “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” If they started claiming he was the Christ, and folks believed them, ironically it might actually get in the way of his arrest, torture and death and his mission would go unfulfilled.
Luke 9:23-27 – It’s a little hard to see this outside of the familiar ICOC context. This was essential to the studies we did with folk. A lot of foolishness trying to read our agenda into Jesus’ words about taking up your cross. Setting all that aside, the very core of conversion lies here. Set aside my agenda and plans, and take on Jesus’ – no matter what they are. Doing so means studying and understanding what Jesus calls us to, it means making it a priority, it means setting aside our own notions of what we think God is and submitting to what he actually said. None of that is easily reducible to a study or two or a tract, at least in it’s entirety. It’s a lifetime of commitment and re-commitment.

Luke 8:10 – It sometimes seems a bit unfair that Jesus would hide his truths like this. A pattern emerges, though. He longs for us to dig deeper than the surface with what he taught. Isn’t that true of most of his teachings? There are many layers of meaning. If we stop at the surface, we miss much of what is profound. Not only that, but at times if we take them at face value, we miss the point entirely.
Luke 8:15 – “bear fruit with patience” it says in the ESV. That’s ironic, since in the ICOC we never had much patience for those who didn’t bear fruit.
Luke 8:19-21 – I need to see this purposeful, non-sentimental side of Jesus. I tend to be one who leans toward love, tolerance and benefit of the doubt, perhaps too much. Jesus was direct and black and white at times. There’s a time for tolerance and a time for decisiveness.
Luke 8:22-23 – Boy, I’d love to have the peace of mind and faith to be able to sleep on a boat in a storm and filling with water. I’m a worrier. When things go wrong, I assume the worst and dream up all kinds of scenarios that might happen. I need faith and a more level head.
Luke 8:26-39 – Real Live Preacher has an interesting dramatized version of this story.
Luke 8:42 – I have a 12 year old. She is so full of life. In many ways, her life is really just beginning. She’s becoming a young woman, finding her own voice apart from Mom and Dad. More so that she had in the past. She’s blossoming. I cannot imagine the pain I would endure to watch her die.
Luke 8:47-48 – Imagine thinking you were in trouble, only to be praised for your faith! What a relief.
Luke 8:50 – I imagine Jesus physically turning Jairus’s head toward him. Look here, ignore reality, focus on me and all will be well. Believe. I’m not giving up, don’t you give up either.
Luke 8:54 – What was told to the girl? What did she tell others as she grew? Did she speak of it? Did she become his disciple one day?
It’s amazing, if you think about it. Jesus must have healed hundreds, if not thousands of people during his ministry. But we read of not one becoming a disciple later. You would have thought that, if they had become disciples, they would have been mentioned. Makes me wonder.

Luke 7:3-4 – I never noticed this before: The centurion did not send for Jesus himself, he sent for the Jewish elders to get Jesus. And the elders did. The Pharasees and ‘leaders’ get a lot of press in the gospels, evidently because they were quite vocal and following Jesus. But here are the elders, mature respected men in the community, humbly approaching Jesus, with respect, for a favor. I wonder how many other times in the gospels the Jewish elders are mentioned?
Luke 7:8 – Here’s a man who knew his place and knew Jesus’ as well.
Luke 7:11-17 – I want to know the back story of this. What became of the woman and her son? What of the people who saw it? Did the return to their lives as if nothing miraculous had happened that day, or were they changed, and sought the man who had done the impossible?
Luke 7:18-19 – Here’s John, who announced his comming, baptised him, saw the spirit descend on him and now recieved reports of the dead risen, wondering if Jesus is really the one. It gives me hope that even John, who saw more evidence that all of us ever will, had his moments of doubt.
Luke 7:22 – Jesus does not give John a clear answer, only say to look again at the evidence before you. You know the answer.

Luke 6:2 – Can’t we be just like the Pharisees? I get a picture of them watching Jesus intently, looking for him to violate a law (see Luke 6:7 too). We can do the same, we have our own pet doctrines and when someone who professes to be a Christian violates them we pounce. Assume for a minute that you’re right about that doctrine and they are wrong – is this what you’d want them to do to you if it was reversed? Certainly if I’m in the wrong, I want to be corrected, but I don’t want to be judged. So why do we do that to others? Christian like to shake our heads at the Pharisees and wonder how they can be such knuckleheads, and then we go and act just like them.
Luke 6:9 – Jesus is always good for asking those questions that, if answered honestly, humble the answerer. Though it irritates me to no end at the time, I appreciate those who do the same to me. My wife is good for that. When I’m all worked up about something, she comes in with a question or statement that humbles me and puts things in their proper perspective.
Luke 6:12-16 – I would love to listen in on these kind of prayers. I wonder what it was like? Was Jesus reviewing the merits of the possible apostles with God? Pluses and minuses of each candidate. Did he know at this time that Judas would betray him? If so, can you imagine choosing him? I guess he did need someone to do it, but that seems a little cold to say that Jesus chose Judas because he knew that Judas would fill the role of betrayer. It could be that his knowledge of the betrayal only extended to the fact that it would happen, not of who would do it. Perhaps God hadn’t revealed that to the human Jesus yet. It seems to make sense that Jesus’ knowledge of the future wouldn’t be completed and might be revealed as needed. After all, can you imaging a 5 or 6 year old Jesus knowing the pain and torture he would one day endure? I guess I hope, in this case, that Jesus was a little more human and a little less God.
And I wonder, what did he tell them it meant to be an apostle?
Luke 6:17-19 – I love this contrast between Jesus consulting with the Father on appointing apostles and the Jesus with the people, focus on meeting their needs. Two faces of the same mission – the task oriented business of establishing the kingdom on Earth and the practical matter of living it out in meeting needs.
Luke 6:20-26 – I see in this version of the beatitudes a contrast between the Earthly focused and the kingdom focused. He’s not saying that we should pursue poverty, hunger, weeping and persecution rather that we should pursue the kingdom and endure those things if that’s what needs to be. Along with that, if our stomachs and wallets are always filled, life is always fun and we’re popular, we should be wary. There’s a pattern seen in those seeking the kingdom and if we don’t see a measure of it in ourselves, woe to us.
That ought to give all of American Christianity pause, I think.
Luke 6:27-26 – Two of the most challenging paragraphs in all of scripture. We like having stuff, our own stuff, and Jesus here says give it up. Not only give it up to those who need or deserve it, but give it up to anyone who asks for it. Our minds cannot be concerned with stuff. Stuff steals our hearts and demands our attention. Attention that could be focused on God or on others.
It’s so challenging because the culture around us screams at us to get more stuff and to maintain and protect that stuff. Not only do we need a new car, we need an alarm to protect it. Jesus calls us to leave our stuff open for whoever needs it. It’s so challenging because if we do, someone will take advantage and will abuse us. Was Jesus naive? No, he knew the hearts of evil men. Rather, he challenged us to have the heart of God, in spite of the evil around us. Lord help us.
Luke 6:38 – What measure am I using? We all want God’s blessings, yet right here he tells us that how we give and bless will limit how he can give to us and bless us. We want to get, how much are we giving?
Luke 6:46 – “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” A very good question, and a humbling one. The bar is so high, unachievable actually. Yet Jesus makes no apologies for setting a high standard. Rather, he simply goes to the cross and makes up the difference. It’s hard to fathom and accept ’cause I’m prideful. I don’t want to admit that I need help, I want to believe that I can sit down and reason my way through all this and figure it out. Which is stupid because there’s enough in this chapter alone to tie me in knots for the rest of my life.

Luke 5:1 – “[T]he crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God”. Wait, ‘the word of God’? Jesus certainly didn’t have a Bible, could he have had a scroll of scripture? We think ‘Bible’ when we hear the phrase ‘word of God’, here it couldn’t have meant that, or at least it was highly unlikely.
‘The word of God’ is not what we’ve made it to be. We equate it with the book we call ‘The Bible’, it is not. It is simply the words of God. Jesus was teaching them what God says and wants, therefore giving them God’s words. The Bible contains the words of God, but it isn’t the words of God. God has more to say to us than the Bible can hold.
Luke 5:5 – Jesus had barely begun his ministry and hadn’t yet called his first disciples, yet Peter already calls him master. Even more, he treats him as master, obeying his request when his professional judgement tells him it’s foolish (but until he tells Jesus he thinks his plan is crazy).
Luke 5:13 – “And immediately the leprosy left him.” We can imagine what that might have looked like, but what do you think it felt like? In my job, I design parts and products with the benefit of a computer. I can put the entire assembly of parts together and show you, very realistically, what it will look like. But when a client needs to know how strong a spring should be, or how soft a grip will feel in the hand, there’s no way a computer can show you that (yet). The same is true here, I can imagine the leprosy just disappearing or fading away, but what did it feel like to be healed by Jesus?
Luke 5:17 – Can you imagine being one of the teachers? He draws them from all around. On one hand, you might be excited to see who this is and what he’s about. Could he be from God? On the other hand, no one comes and gathers around you like this. The power of the Lord isn’t present with you to d the things he does, and you are supposed to be the spiritual leader of Israel. If he’s someone from God, then I’ll look the fool for not recognizing it sooner and I’ll have to change my thinking and my teaching. It would be very easy to be skeptical and offended.
It makes me think that I need to be careful myself when someone brings something unexpected or different. Does he have an agenda or is it possibly from God? Paul tells us to test the spirits for sure, but to test them you need to be open that they are really from God. It’s too easy to reject anything that doesn’t fit within out preconceived notions, perhaps things we’ve believed for years.
Luke 5:19 – What kind of boldness does it take to rip apart the roof of another man’s house?
Luke 5:20-25 – I’ve always Eben puzzled here by the connection Jesus makes between forgiveness of the man’s sins and healing is body. Come to think of it, maybe there is no connection after all. He doesn’t get up and walk until after Jesus tells him to, not when Jesus forgives his sins. I guess the answer is in v24, after the forgiveness and before the healing, Jesus says “that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. The point Jesus wanted them to get was that he had the authority to forgive sins. The feelings were to establish that fact.